Maria Lenk Trophy: Leonardo de Deus, Thiago Pereira and Mireia Belmonte Wrap Up Meet with Global Top 10 Times

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, April 28. THE final day of the Maria Lenk Trophy meet, serving as one of many Olympic qualifying meets for Brazil, featured a trio of performances that ranked in the top 10 globally.

Women’s 200 butterfly
Joanna Maranhao started the session with a 2:09.62 in the 200 fly final, just missing the automatic Olympic qualifying time of 2:08.95. She was followed by Yana Medeiros, who placed second with a 2:17.09, and Larissa Cieslak, who was third in 2:18.08.

Men’s 200 butterfly
After qualifying for the Olympic team Thursday in the 200 backstroke, Leonardo de Deus cemented his place on the Brazilian squad with a 1:55.70 win today, good enough for sixth in the world. He’d already qualified for the Olympics in the 200 fly, thanks to a 1:55.55 at the world championships, which was the first meet in which Brazilians could qualify for the 2012 Olympics. Kaio Almeida, the national record holder with a 1:53.92 from 2009, placed second in 1:56.51. That puts Almeida on the roster for the Olympics, having beaten the qualifying time of 1:56.86. Arthur Mendes was a distant third with a 2:00.78.

Women’s 100 backstroke
Fabiola Molina, the national record holder at 1:00.07, qualified for the Olympics with a 1:00.74, faster than the FINA A standard of 1:00.82. France’s Laure Manaudou, already qualified for the Olympics in this event, placed second in 1:01.02. Carolina Henao finished third with a 1:02.34.

Men’s 100 backstroke
Thiago Pereira blazed through the 100 backstroke final with a winning time of 53.86, tying him for 10th in the world with Bastiaan Lijesen. Eugene Godsoe of the United States was second in 54.57, just off his season best of 54.48 from March. Daniel Orzechowski, the winner of the 50 backstroke, placed third with a 54.69, after dipping under the automatic Olympic qualifying time of 54.40 in prelims with a 54.20.

Women’s 400 freestyle
Mireia Belmonte paced the field with a time of 4:05.70, barely faster than she 4:05.77 she swam last month at the Spanish nationals that put her seventh in the world. By swimming .07 faster, she leapfrogs up to a tie for fifth in the world with Federica Pellegrini and resets her Spanish national record. Denmark’s Lotte Friis could not complete the distance free triple, taking second with a 4:09.68. She’s been much faster with a 4:06.85 to her credit from last month’s Danish nationals. Cecilia Biagioli posted the fastest Brazilian time with a third-place swim of 4:12.53.

Men’s 400 freestyle
American Charlie Houchin took his first title of the meet, winning with a 3:50.11. Houchin’s previous best of the season had been 3:51.77 from the Austin Grand Prix. Houchin almost gave the United States three swimmers under 3:50 so far in 2012, with Matt McLean (3:49.88) and Tyler Clary (3:49.91) going under the barrier this year. Juan Pereyra placed second in Brazil with a 3:51.45 and Marcos Oliveira was third with a 3:53.97.

Women’s 400 medley relay
Pinheiros took the final women’s event of the meet with a 4:08.32. Minas took second with a 4:09.34 and Corinthians placed third with a 4:12.89.

Men’s 400 medley relay
Flamengo got to the wall first in a tight battle with Pinheiros in the meet’s final race with a 3:36.10 to Pinheiros’ 3:36.60. Minas was a distant third in 3:41.72.